Technology

I’m currently testing a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) based sensor to detect carbon dioxide (CO2) parts per million (PPM) levels using an MH-Z19B sensor, coupled with an ESP8266 based NodeMCU V3. Compared to other sensor technologies (such as filament heating of electrochemical plates used by the MQ-135 sensor), the MH-Z19B has the following advantages: is factory calibrated (does not need calibration) is accurate and does not fluctuate radically PPM…

Arduino is an open-source electronic prototyping platform that allows you to create interactive electronic objects. It contains an easy to use C++ editor and C++ complier. It has a large user base, with many open source libraries supporting a wide range of sensors, and microelectronic devices. The following steps describe how to install and configure Arduino IDE to work with an ESP8266. In order to connect and program…

The ESP8266 is an inexpensive System on a Chip (SoC), consisting of a Tensilica L106 32-bit micro controller unit (MCU) and a Wi-Fi transceiver. It supports a full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack. It has 17 General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins*, and an analog input as well. (*) 6 of these pins (6-11) are used for communication with the on-board flash memory chip. You can program it with either Arduino or Lua. Thanks…

Live feed of the air quality in Chambourcy (France), taken from an air quality device that I am currently developing. The measurements are taken with the SDS011 particle and DHT11 temperature/humidity sensors, connected to an ESP8266 microcontroller based NodeMCU V3.…